Windows 7 RC (7100) out early on torrent trackers — While the partner page Microsoft put up a few days back announcing the availability of the Windows 7 RC turned out to be another minor slip-up, the results in Mininova's index are a bit more real. — You guessed it - the Windows 7 RC build (7100) has been leaked.

Go test drive Windows 7 RC (7100) today — If you're like me and watched from a distance leaked builds of Windows 7 fly past like water balloons in a water balloon fight, then the time to join the fun is now. The highly anticipated release candidate (RC) build of Windows 7 has been leaked and its authenticity is entirely undisputed.

Apple retail sheds 1,600 full-time positions — Apple's retail group shed about 1,600 full-time equivalent workers during its second fiscal quarter. — Apple's second fiscal quarter was a blowout considering the state of the economy, but executives noted that the retail division took …

Apple Stores: The big chill — Is there an Apple Store near you? Count yourself lucky, because the days of Apple's (AAPL) aggressive expansion into the branded retail space are over — at least for now. — After opening more than 250 company-owned stores in eight years …

Van Natta Confirmed as CEO of MySpace-The Full Press Release — Former Facebook COO Owen Van Natta has finally been officially named as CEO of MySpace, as BoomTown reported yesterday, according to a press release from News Corp. — He will replace CEO and co-founder Chris DeWolfe, who stepped down from the job earlier this week.

Results of the Inaugural Facebook Site Governance Vote — Today, the Facebook site governance vote ended after a week in which you were able to voice your opinions as to which documents should serve as the foundation for governing the site. On behalf of everyone at Facebook …

The Technology Generation Gap at Work is Oh So Wide — Recently, business information solutions provider LexisNexis released the results of a study that examined how technology was used in the American workplace. The focus of the study was on the differing opinions between generational groups.

Ubuntu 9.04 as slick as Windows 7, Mac OS X — Here's what the official press release won't tell you about Ubuntu 9.04, which formally hit the streets overnight: its designers have polished the hell out of its user interface since the last release in October.

Obama's BlackBerry — President Obama will soon get his souped-up, high-security BlackBerry for use in and around the White House and during presidential travel, according to Obama administration officials. The top-secret BlackBerry 8830 is in the final stages of development …

Deep packet inspection could be outlawed in US — US lawmakers are set to limit the way ISPs use deep packet inspection (DPI), even though no American service providers are using the technology. — Representative Rick Boucher, a Virginia Democrat, and three privacy experts …

Geocities — Yesterday, TechCrunch reported the news that Yahoo! is planning to shut down Geocities. That is sad news on many levels. Geocities was the web's first community and it was my first “mega deal” when it was sold to Yahoo! in 1999 for $3.5bn (including the value of the options Yahoo! assumed).

Twitter Eats World: Global Visitors Shoot Up To 19 Million — Twitter's march towards world domination continues apace. This morning comScore released its global numbers for March, 2009. Worldwide visitors to Twitter.com increased 95 percent in the month of March from 9.8 million to 19.1 million, according to its estimates.

Opscode Gets $2.5M to Automate the Cloud — Opscode, Inc., a cloud infrastructure company led by veterans of the data center teams from Amazon and Microsoft, has closed a Series A funding round of $2.5 million led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, the company said today.

Boom times ahead for mobile Web access — After a slow start, mobile Web access has finally taken off, thanks in large part to better technology, and it will drive growth in Internet use in the future, industry leaders say. — “More people in the world will have their first interaction …

2018 Top 100 Global Tech Leaders — 21st century technology-sector leadership requires more than financial success. It also requires a commitment to compliance, innovation, and much more. Who are today's leaders?